Space Shuttle Launch Pad 39A with Challenger STS-6

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

and so now to the result of the analysis and the final inventory control of the Crawler lighting, which is now fixed and can be seen in the following image, which however does not show the STS-6 Crawler, but the Crawler CT-2 that was upgraded for the SLS Program.

 

Source: NASA

 

The total 29 Lamps of the former STS-6 Crawler are distributed as follows:

 

Driver's cabs: 2
JEL-Hydraulics: 8    
Trucks (out-/inside): 8    
Sidewalls: 2/2 Beacons
Front side (Side 3): 3    
Back side: (Side 1): 4

 

And this result actually corresponds to my initial estimate of approx. 30 Lamps.  

 

Just briefly to the explanation of NASA's designation of the front and back side of the Crawler, which was incorrectly named in my last post.

 

The crawler with the MLP drives from the VAB with the Side 3 (front side) in the direction of the Launch pad. Therefore from the south side on the pad one always looks at the Side 1 (back side) of the crawler, which then becomes the front side when it return.

 

Source: flickr.com/photos/nasacommons

 

The Side 1 of the crawler one can recognize, in difference to the Side 3, by the the stairs platform onto which the MLP stairs can be folded out, which is folded in again after the MLP has been set down onto the Pedestals, before the Crawler returns.

[DMC]

Still with you on this amazing project of yours, @roma847.  Your modelling skills were established early on but now it’s your staying power that impresses.  Not sure just how you manage it but please carry on.

 

My interest in Real Space has been piqued by your work.  I am too far along in years to tackle anything as ambitious but I am enjoying a Shuttle build in 1:144 and reading Into The Black.  An excellent account of the Shuttle development and Columbia’s first trip into space.

 

Dennis

 

[roma847]

Thanks Dennis for your nice compliments. 

 

Great if my project inspired you and and if you enjoy your own Shuttle build now.

 

Therefore stay true to your own dreams and not give up.  That is the key to success. 

[RichO]

Hey Manfred,

 

  It has been forever since I have looked at your build.  GLAD TO KNOW YOU'RE STILL CRAZY!!  In a good way tho.  ' hope everything is going well with you, I'll check back after I've gone back 10 months and read your posts.  Keep building my friend!

 

Richo

[roma847]

Hey Rich,

 

thanks for the nice greeting, A cat has nine lives, they say in Germany. 

 

Finally you're back my friend and I hope you're doing well and you've survived the move well too. 

 

The time without you was pretty boring here ... 

 

Now let's go tinkering together and have fun. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

now it's time to get in touch again.  

 

After the analysis and inventory of the lamps on the crawler, I've thought with my friend Arno (McPhönix) behind the scenes about the placement of the electrics for the Crawler and MLP lighting.

 

And to do this, I first had to familiarize myself more closely with David Maier's Paper Kit and take a closer look at the structure of the crawler, which is based on a fixed substructure in a similar way like the structure of the MLP that time, long, long ago ...

 

 

Here one can see the floor plan for the construction of the Crawler support structure and underneath the corresponding principle sketch, 

 

 

as well as my first idea for the placement of the three planned 9V Batteries.

 

 

It can be seen from this that some of the support elements planned would have to be dispensed with in order to create the necessary free space for the batteries. 

 

Source: EDU-Craft Diversions (David Maier)

 

In principle, however, this should be feasible because in D. Maier's kit, in contrast to the ingenious Paper Kit (1/96) by Mischa Klement (www.microartwork.com), no internal spaces are provided, which is the construction much simpler and easier. 

 

For comparison, here is a picture from the building report of a US friend in the  Paper Modelers Forum (gene1772), who built this monster crawler out of around 11.000 parts.  

 

Source: papermodelers.com/forum (gene1772)

 

And here his masterpiece can be seen in all its beauty.  

 

Source: papermodelers.com/forum (gene1772)

 

 A great help in further building the crawler is the building report of my friend Michael Knobloch (mk310149),  who also built the crawler from the Maier-Paper Kit (1/144), is, exactly as it is provided in the kit, the pictures of which I will refer back to from time to time.  

 

After some consideration, we came to this arrangement of the Electrics/Electronics, which is more favorable in terms of the division of the elements, for what the support walls (green) were modified.

 

 

In the meantime, my friend Arno has tinkered on the electronics and specified the circuit board, in which even a warning horn is provided.

 

 

Now I just have to find a convenient place for the exit of the connection cable to the MLP when the Crawler with the MLP is standing in front of the Flame Trench and its power supply is through the batteries of the crawler.

 

And now still a brief outlook ahead to the building of the Crawler, in which I will proceed similarly to the construction of the MLP and will scratch certain details, which David Maier has left out in his kit or only hinted at it through clever textures.

 

This concerns, among other things the Underbody of the crawler, on which the lower support structure is only indicated, as one can see here, onto which equipment such as tanks, silencers, filters etc., as well as the exhaust system are simply placed then.

 

Okay, now one could say that one can't see the sub-floor anyway, and there are certainly more interesting places on the crawler, but on the other hand, the support structure could be represented relatively easily using suitable profiles.

 

Source: papermodelers.com/forum (mk310149)

 

Instead, other places on the crawler such as the JEL Hydraulic system for lifting and lowering the MLP on the Pedestals are much more distinctive, but also much more difficult for implementation. 

 

Source: NASA

 

And this tricky assembly is indicated in a typical way in David Maier's paper kit only by relatively robust structures with 2D textures, which may look pretty good when viewed from a distance, but up close one can see that this is only printed "wallpaper" is as one can see in this picture.  

 

Source: papermodelers.com/forum (mk310149)

 

Then there are also some places with breakthroughs where there are provided only black areas in the kit, as one can see here.  Strange is also that for the sake of simplicity, black color is provided in the interior in the front and rear open spaces, so that one cannot look into it. 

 

Nothing against the Crawler and the other great paper models of my friend Michael Knobloch, who is a passionate paper modeler and a master of the nimble scissors, who is cherishing his hobby above all else.  

 

Source: papermodelers.com/forum (mk310149)

 

Ultimately, in addition to the question of the effort one wants to make, it is all a matter of taste, about which everyone can judge differently, according to his taste. 

 

So much for today my friends.

[roma847]

Hello dear friends,

 

actually I wanted to leave it at the result of my previous inventory of the  Crawler lighting.

 

But at one point I'm starting brooding again and again, so that I can't stop thinking about it, which is why I took a closer look at it once again.

 

It is a matter of this area at the underbody of the crawler, on which one can still see some circled lamps on/in front of the inside of the Trucks, which have not (yet) been taken into account in my previous count, the exact position of which is difficult to make out on my reference photo of the STS-28 (1989).

 

Source: flickr.com/photos/nasacommons

 

Since two of these lamps have already got my attention in the video of the STS-6 Rollout, 

 

 

I've already done some more thorough research and actually found what I was looking for, namely at my friend Mischa Klement, whom I has inquired about the diameters of the crawler's tubular support struts.

 

On his homepage one can find under Support a very detailed and nicely illustrated construction manual, in which I, among other things, also came across this image, which immediately made my heart beat faster because there the construction is shown at this point, where the lamp can be seen in the video (circled in red).

 

Source: Mischa Klement (microartwork.com)

 

This is one of the two attachment points between which the Longitudinal Steering Cylinders of the truck steering are mounted, on the center of which there is also a lamp, as one can see in the following both pictures. 

 

Source: Mischa Klement (microartwork.com)

 

Source: Mischa Klement (microartwork.com)

 

And those are the three lamps that one can see here again on the Crawler (Corner , wherewith this last question would also be clarified. 

 

 

This results in the following modified Crawler lighting, which contains 40 Lamps + 2 Beacons, 

 

 

which are distributed onto the following 6 LED Circles:

 

Corner A to D : each 7 = 28
Side 1/Side 3 :  each 6 = 12

 

How good that my friend Arno (McPhönix) in wise foresight has again planned in his Electronics 6 circles with each 7 LEDs.

[RichO]

Manfred,

 

  These lamps are the spinning yellow caution lamps.  I placed these at the same location that Mischa has shown.  If you remember I posted a you-tube video of the spinning caution lamps.  The support system is very complicated on this build, Have fun!!

[roma847]

Thanks Rich for looking in, 

 

do you know when these lamps were switched on, and were they combined with a warning tone? 

 

BTW, in the shown video about Challenger's Rollout these lamps were not spinning although it was very foggy that day ... 

 

I know your awesome video of course,  but is there a video where one can see these caution lamps in action on the real CT?

Edited November 11, 2020 by roma847

[RichO]

Hey Manfred,  

 

  I know this answer is going to drive you crazy, but I have not found a video or still photo with these lights even at these locations.  When I was building the model Mischa had indicated where these are located in the instructions.  I had an opportunity to try and build the rotating caution lights because it was new for me.  My thinking was, all caution lights on vehicles rotate, or they don't caution. 

 

  Also remember that I built the 1960's version, so almost no video at all anyway.  Even the videos I have found post retrofit, really don't show much lighting.  The best video of the under side of the CT that I have seen, has no caution lights located anywhere. 

 

  So go figure,  Mischa indicated lights, and I wanted to make them spin.  That's it.

[roma847]

Hi Rich,

 

no problem that you're loving the nice Spinning caution lights on your Crawler, even though they don't actually exist. But that lies alone on the builder's artistic freedom ... 

 

The only two caution lights on the real CT I have already marked in my inventory of the Crawler lighting with red arrows, and they are sitting in the middle of Side 2 and Side 4,

 

 

which one can see here above the red bell.

 

Source: nasatech.net/CT-2

 

And what it looks like could it be a Rotating Beacon which on my crawler will only going to flash. 

 

And on the Warning sign one can even read what this beacon is good for. 

 

 

 

[roma847]

Hello my friends,

 

today is a very special day for me, but probably nobody can figure out what might be, or can you?  

 

[DalekCheese]

On 15/11/2020 at 19:25, roma847 said:

Hello my friends,

 

today is a very special day for me, but probably nobody can figure out what might be, or can you?  

 

You’ve finished the crawler?

Edited March 23, 2021 by DalekCheese

[roma847]

Thanks my friend for your compliment, but that would mean: Mission impossible! 

 

Hello everybody,

 

I do not want to keep you in suspense any longer and let grope in the dark ...

To the day exactly today 9 years ago I started my report in our German Raumcon forum and one year later then also here in this forum, as one can see on page 1.

Long, long ago ...  

 

And for it that many of you have been loyal to me since then, as well as for your feedback and the lively encouragement in good and bad times, I would like to thank you very much.

 

With this in mind, I can only hope that you will stay tuned and that we will have a lot of fun together yet.  

 

 

 

 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

then let's go into the 10th year with fresh courage!

 

And you won't believe it, but the Crawler lighting still won't let me go, so whether we like it or not, I have to come back once again to the STS-28 photo.

 

In addition to the red circled lamps at the front and back of the JEL Cylinders, there were still a few others that I have not yet followed up. 

 

Source: flickr.com/photos/nasacommons

 

And that concerns in particular to the lamp marked blue next to the lamp marked red. The lamps circled in yellow do not belong to the crawler, but are located on the Pedestals, as I have seen on other photos and could possibly be added as a LED circle into the Pad Lighting, if the power bank could still cope with it.

 

So I've gone into the matter of the blue marked lamp again more exactly and found it on this photo of the STS-6, as one can see in this photo, albeit only blurred.

 

Source: forum.nasaspaceflight.com (jacqmans)

 

That's why I've traced the STS-6 track further and also watched the Rollout video again. And there I came across this Sequence (7:46), on the screenshot of which one can see the blue circled lamp next to the red circled lamp on the front of the JEL Unit, which is located on the side wall.  

 

 

Much more precisely one can see these lamps on photos in the Crawler Report (HEAR FL-8-11-C), as on this Photo (JPEG (334 kb) here, 

 

Source: Library of Congress (HAER FL-8-11-C-9)

 

if one knows that there is also always a HiRes. (TIFF (38.9 mb) for all photos in this report, which one can study in detail to your heart's content, as I did first of all for the front corner Corner A.   

 

And on it one can see both the lamp on the front of the JEL Unit (the same lamp is on the back too) and the lamp on the side wall to the left of the ladder.

 

 

And at the rear corner Corner D with the driver's cab one will find the same arrangement of the lamps, as well as at the corners Corner B & C. 

 

 

As a result, 4 more lamps are added to my previous Inventory

 

Therefore I've decided to modify the lamp distribution as follows:

 

 

This now results in the following final Crawler lighting, which contains 42 Lamps + 2 Beacons, which are distributed on the following 6 LED circuits: 

 

Corner A-D:    each 7 = 28
Side 1/2-3/4:  each 7 = 14 + 2 Beacons

 

And it will stay that way. Rien ne va plus - Nothing works anymore!

[basket]

Unbelievable . Your researches to get absolute accuracy are un1believable.

[roma847]

Thanks basket for your nice compliment. 

 

I simply have the researcher gene in me, after all, I haven't studied Materials research for nothing, long time ago, and that still benefits me today. That's all. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

now that the number of LEDs for the Crawler lighting is clarified, I wanted to get things straight concerning the size of the lamps to see whether it's possible to scratch them ever.

 

And for this I've found this photo (JPEG, 334 kb) in the Crawler Report (HEAR FL-8-11-C), on which one can see the outer Truck lighting, which consists of three lamps.  

 

Source: Library of Congress (HAER FL-8-11-C-13)

 

However, I will only scratch the larger, downward-hanging lamp, as three LEDs in a confined space would otherwise totally flood this place with their brightness, which would only be seen as one light spot anyway.

 

From this direct photo I might determine the dimensions of the lamp, for which I would, as always, need a Reference dimension,   which I determined from this NASA drawing of the truck, which is also included in the Crawler Report.

 

Source: Library of Congress (HAER FL-8-11-C-32)

 

And with the height of the Truck body (14 mm) as a reference dimension, I have determined the dimensions of this lamp from the HiRes. image (TIFF, 38,4 mb) of this photo, which shows how tiny it should actually be, especially since I also would still have to somehow place the LED-0401 (1,0 mm x 0,3 mm x 0,5 mm) ...

 

For this the smallest ferrule (0.5x6), that I have, would come into question, with Ø 1,4 mm (sleeve) and a small shade (Ø 2,0 mm), 

 

 

what would be almost too big, or a brass tube with Ø 1,2 mm, possibly slightly widened in front.

 

Maybe I can come across with something better ...

[basket]

I still can't believe eyes.

Your passion for this work is properly astonishing.

 

[roma847]

Thanks for your nice compliment, 

but you can still trust your eyes, everything you see is handmade and not witchcraft. 

[roma847]

Hello everybody,

 

I've kept thinking and remembered the thin cable insulations which are lying on side for a long time already, here e.g. with Ø 0,7 mm, which would fit exactly.

 

 

To do this it would have to be possible to get the thin LED wires (0,1 mm) threaded into this tube, but I think this should be possible for short pieces of 1 - 2 mm length.

 

In discussion with my friend Arno (McPhönix) we quickly came from insulating tube to shrinking tube, with which I've also experimented a longer time ago, however for cables with slightly larger diameters.

 

And shrinking tube is also available with smaller diameters, e.g. Ø 2 mm, which shrinks to 1 mm and is also transparent, which would be ideal for the lamp, especially since it would also protect the encased LED at the same time.

 

Source: led-bestellen.de

 

And this idea I followed up right away, have Googled, and among other things, I on this, found in my opinion even this better suited, thin-walled, transparent Shrinking tube (1,6:0,8), which would be almost ideal for the Crawler lamps.  

 

And since the tube also has a small range like a lampshade at the transition after shrinking, it should be thought about whether this variant could also generally be considered for the rest lamps of the  Launch Pad, with the help of which I could therefore spare the more elaborate solution using ferrules ...  

 

With it I will experiment soon, especially since the shrunk "glass body" with the LED inside could be sealed perfectly at the bottom with a drop of Bondic UV adhesive.  

[roma847]

Hello everybody on the 2nd evening of Advent,

 

before I take off my Crawler glasses again, I took care of the dimensions of further components that I don't want to use from the Paper kit, but will scratch from Plastic profiles.

 

For this purpose I've found a number of NASA drawings in the Yahoo-LUT-Group, from which I could take important dimensions, such as these here with the frame structure (Chassis Structure Lower Level) for the construction of the Underbody (Sheet 4):

 

Source: savethelut.org (John Cato)

 

This initially concerns the dimensions of the green marked Wide Flange Beams in the Diagonal Box 3 & 4, which have the following dimensions,

 

Wide 18'' = 457 mm = 2,9 mm (1:160) 
Deep 24'' = 610 mm = 3,8 mm (1:160)

 

as well as the blue marked profiles with the following dimensions:

 

Wide 12'' = 305 mm = 1,9 mm (1:160) 
Deep 24'' = 610 mm = 3,8 mm (1:160)

 

Unfortunately, the dimensions of the yellow, light blue and red marked profiles cannot be found in this drawing, which is why I have to search through other drawings, which is a bit tedious.

 

For the blue marked Beams 40-58 I've found I-Profiles (4,0 x 2,0 mm) from Evergreen, which are very close to the original dimensions.  

 

The red marked outer Longitudinal Box Girders I have now found in the Sectional view (AD-AD, Sheet 34) in this drawing.  

 

Source: savethelut.org (John Cato)

 

Their dimensions are: 

 

Height 2' = 610 mm = 3,8 mm (1:160)
Width 1'-6,25''= 464 mm = 2,9 mm (1:160)

 

Since there is no such Box profile by Evergreen, I will use a Square profile 3,2 x 4 mm instead.

 

That's it for today, the remaining profiles I'll still find as well.  

[Matt Parvis]

Utter and total madness. (I mean that in a good way.)

 

Matt

[RichO]

  HI Manfred, 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                I'm sure that you have considered that a huge chapter of your build could be taken care of with just one e-mail.  Mischa's crawler has all these required measurements already worked out.  When you order his kit you also receive a "Vector File" of the drawings that have no color added, just the outlines, that can be scaled to any size you want to work with.  Reduce the drawings to your 1/144 scale and done.  You just need to build it.  And remember that Mischa's designs have two versions, complex or simple, to work with, so put as much work into it as you want to show.

 

The crawler has a lot of shoes!!  Resin casting.........

[roma847]

6 hours ago, Matt Parvis said:

Utter and total madness. (I mean that in a good way.)

 

Matt

 

Thanks Matt for your nice words. 

 

As I can see you are very impressed and I understand already what you mean by that.